United States v. Bregu

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,v.ILIR BREGU, MARIO SCATA, and MANUELE SCATA, Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER

George
A. O'Toole, Jr. United States District Judge

The
defendants, Ilir Bregu, Mario Scata, and Manuele Scata, are
charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute
and to distribute oxycodone in violation of 21 U.S.C. §
846. The Scatas are also charged with possession with intent
to distribute and to distribute oxycodone in violation of 21
U.S.C § 841(a)(1), and Manuele[1] is further charged with
using and carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug
trafficking offense in violation of 18 U.S.C. §
924(c)(1)(A). Bregu and Manuele have moved to suppress
evidence they contend was collected in violation of the
Fourth Amendment.

I.
Factual Background

According
to the submissions, the government has developed its evidence
against the defendants in large part through (1) a series of
orders and search warrants obtained from March through June
2015 which permitted access to precise location data of
certain cellular telephones and (2) July 2015 search warrants
for vehicles and the Scatas' residence. Particularly at
issue are search warrants issued by magistrate judges on
March 20, 2015, to obtain precise location information for
cellular telephone number 609-510-5912 (the “5912
cellular telephone”) associated with Bregu, and on July
14, 2015, to search Bregu's Lincoln Town Car and
Manuele's Chevrolet Tahoe.

A.
Search Warrant Application for 5912 Cellular Telephone

On
March 20, 2015, at 12:27 p.m., a magistrate judge issued a
warrant for government agents to obtain, among other things,
specific latitude and longitude or other precise location
information from the 5912 cellular telephone. The affidavit
submitted in support of the warrant application by a special
agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation averred the
following relevant facts:

Beginning
in July 2012, a confidential informant (“CI-1”)
reported to the FBI that Ilir Bregu and Floart Mino were
selling prescription pills, such as OxyContin and/or
oxycodone, which they acquired from a source in New York and
transported by vehicle to Massachusetts.[2] The special agent
identified Bregu as a resident of New York and Mino as a
resident of Massachusetts.

In May
2013, an FBI investigation into Bregu and Mino led to the
arrest of Alwyn Kalligheri for possession with intent to
distribute oxycodone. Kalligheri reported after his arrest
that he worked at D&M Auto Doctor
(“D&M”), an automobile repair facility owned
by Manuele Scata, and sold oxycodone to the facility's
customers. He stated that he had Manuele's permission to
sell the pills but Manuele was not involved in the sales. He
further stated that Mino was his pill supplier and that
Mino's source was located in New York. Kalligheri
subsequently pled guilty to the state drug charges.

In
September 2014, a local police confidential informant
(“CI-2”) advised that he knew Mario Scata and
that Mario had been illegally selling pills for years. He
provided Mario's cellular telephone number. The special
agent determined that Mario was Manuele's father and was
frequently at D&M. Toll records associated with the known
telephone numbers used by Kalligheri, Mino, Manuele, and
Mario showed that they all had direct telephone contact with
each other in the months prior to Kalligheri's arrest. A
review of toll records in the fall of 2013 showed that both
Kalligheri, then on pre-trial release, and Manuele had direct
telephonic contact with Bregu during that time.

In
December 2014, the FBI installed a pole camera outside of a
multi-family residence in Revere, Massachusetts. Surveillance
showed that Mario resided in the basement apartment. In
January 2015, surveillance showed vehicle traffic at the
Revere residence consistent with street-level drug
trafficking activity. That is, vehicles would frequently park
at the driveway entrance or in the street nearby, the driver
or passenger would then walk down the driveway toward
Mario's basement apartment and return to the vehicle
usually within a few minutes, and then the vehicle would
leave. Additionally, some individuals were observed to be
repeat visitors.

On
February 3, 2015, as revealed by surveillance, a black
Lincoln Town Car registered to Bregu at an address in Staten
Island, New York pulled into the driveway of the Revere
residence. After about forty minutes, the vehicle departed
and traveled west toward Connecticut and New York on the
Massachusetts Turnpike. Bregu was the driver and only
occupant of the vehicle. Data from a pen register installed
on Mario's telephone showed that approximately
twenty-four minutes before Bregu arrived at the Revere
residence, Mario received a short incoming call from the
telephone number 609-510-5912, which was a prepaid cellular
account without subscriber information. Toll analysis of the
5912 cellular telephone showed it had been used for contacts
with Bregu's wife, Bregu's brother, and Mario.

In
early February 2015, a confidential informant
(“CI-3”) with a history of reliable reporting
told the FBI that Mario illegally sold pills to customers out
of his residence. CI-3 also reported that Mario's son
“Manny”-a known nickname used by Manuele-was
selling illegal pills out of D&M. CI-3 reported that
Mario's source for pills was an individual from New York.
CI-3 advised that Mario received pill deliveries from his
source on a regular basis.

Analysis
of Mario's telephone activity and available pole camera
footage revealed that a Town Car appearing identical to the
vehicle observed on February 3 arrived and parked in the
driveway of the Revere residence after a telephone call or
calls from the 5912 number on other dates, including January
21, February 13, February 24, March 4, and March 10, 2015.

On
February 27 and March 10, 2015, CI-3 made two controlled
purchases of 30mg tablets of oxycodone hydrochloride pills
from Mario inside the Revere basement.

On July
14, 2015, at 8:59 p.m. and 9:01 p.m., a magistrate judge
issued warrants authorizing the search of Bregu's Town
Car and Manuele's Tahoe on or before July 28, 2015, at
any time in the day or night. The supporting affidavit for
the vehicle warrants described the investigation into the
defendants, which at that point involved surveillance,
controlled purchases of oxycodone from Mario by a
confidential informant, analysis of telephone records and pen
register data for the defendants, and a series of search
warrants to obtain precise location information from cellular
telephones. Specifically, the special agent averred the
following relevant facts:

CI-3,
under the direction of agents, made multiple controlled
purchases of oxycodone pills from Mario at the Revere
basement. In addition to the controlled purchases previously
described, CI-3 made ...

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